Likely to inspire fun and creativity.
Sixth grade space enthusiast Maple McNutt spills all to her private journal.
Maple struggles with anxiety, but in her view it could just as likely be the rare disease ankylosing spondylitis. She takes an exacting approach to her beloved science—even getting impatient with her mother, who works in public relations for NASA, for using unserious materials like glitter in the pursuit of fun outreach to kids. Nuanced, Maple is not, but her enthusiastic descriptions, annotated doodles, and occasional obliviousness are amusing. According to her friends and family, though, Maple doesn’t understand fun. In a devastating turn of events, best friend Sunny Gwon pulls away from her, leaving her without a partner for her school’s Invention Convention. Maple therefore embarks upon a new journey of scientific problem-solving: “To become fun,” states her working theory (synthesized from 86 different websites), “one must: 1. Relax / 2. Have a sense of humor / 3. Open up / 4. Do something scary.” These steps are not easy for Maple. She’s stressed out by the presence of Juniper, her active older sister, and Jared, the boy Sunny’s getting close to. She also worries about having to speak up at school. When Maple finds a “research assistant” in new classmate Lada, who recently moved from Hungary, their budding friendship brings her much-needed perspective and comfort. The chatty tone, inviting layout, and humorous voice will draw readers in and keep them entertained. Maple reads white; Sunny is cued Korean American.
Likely to inspire fun and creativity. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781665941037
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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